Orange Rice Pudding With Minted Orange/Cranberry Glaze

From chef and cookbook author Michel Nischan as printed in our local newspaper. The basmati rice I think, gives the pudding an especially delightful flavor and lovely scent. Time to dust off the ol' rice cooker! Freshly squeezed orange juice is the way to go! FYI: I was out of oranges and basmati rice when I prepared this last time so I used honey tangerines and jasmine rice instead! Really good!

DIRECTIONS

ORANGE/CRANBERRY GLAZE: Place the orange juice and cranberries in a small saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat and reduce mixture by half. This should take about 15 minutes. Stir in the honey.

Rub the mint leaves vigorously between your fingers to release the natural oil then stir into the glaze.

Let mixture stand 10 minutes, then remove the mint.

PUDDING: In a medium size saucepan, place the half and half and milk. Add the raw sugar, vanilla bean or extract and orange zest.

Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring continually until the sugar is dissolved. Place the eggs in a medium mixing bowl. Now {{slowly}} pour the hot milk liquid into the eggs while whisking constantly until the liquid is absorbed. Next, whisk in the orange juice and stir in the hot rice and dried cranberries.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture becomes hot and slightly thickened, approximately 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring constantly to avoid scorching.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or butter a 9x9 inch baking dish.

Pour the warm pudding into the prepared baking dish and bake in oven for 15 minutes, or until the pudding is {{softly}} set (the mixture should "jiggle" when dish is shaken.).

Use an ice cream scoop to portion out the pudding. Drizzle the prepared orange/cranberry glaze over each serving and garnish with fresh mint leaves if desired.